`Smart Growth' Backers Beckon Dupage

At first glance, especially if that glance were from a car window, DuPage County would seem an unlikely place to preach the gospel of sensible growth.

The county is seen by some as an example of suburban sprawl on steroids--with roads that are clogged by traffic, shopping centers that are accessible only by auto and acres of subdivisions on former farmland.

But DuPage also is a county that has worked aggressively to preserve open space, even as it attracts jobs. Downtown business districts thrive in some communities, and there have been efforts in others in recent years to encourage downtown redevelopment around existing commuter rail lines.

It also is a county that regional planners say will continue to add both people and jobs in the coming decades.

"DuPage isn't all developed out," County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom said.

Sensible growth, he said, may not be as important an issue in DuPage as it is in still rural areas of Kane or McHenry Counties. "But it is not an issue that is passing us by. It's not irrelevant to our future."

Sensible growth is a phrase adopted by a coalition of Chicago-area government, civic and business groups to describe its home-grown version of what elsewhere is often called "smart growth."

Smart growth is best defined as a collection of ideas aimed at discouraging urban sprawl, reducing traffic congestion and preserving natural habitats.

The goal often is to promote development in older communities, where infrastructure already exists, rather than spending huge sums to extend roads and sewers beyond the urban fringe.

On Tuesday, the issue was the topic of discussion at a forum in Lisle sponsored by the East West Corporate Corridor Association, a DuPage-area business group.

"We think the tremendous projections of growth are good for the Chicago region," said MarySue Barrett, president of the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council and one of the chief proponents of an effort, begun in 1998, called Campaign for Sensible Growth.

"But we also think that economic development has to have one eye on community, quality of life and environmental concerns at the same time. Balanced development would be the key word."

The Campaign for Sensible Growth released a report last month that recommends better planning to link new development with existing transportation corridors, stronger laws to protect farmland and programs to help people buy homes near their jobs.

The report also calls for incentives to encourage redevelopment in older communities and a new state planning agency that would provide advice to local officials and encourage sensible-growth practices.

But adapting the vision of sensible growth to the realities of suburban politics and development may be a bit tricky.

Some towns are trying to revitalize their older downtowns, even as they encourage development on their fringes.

For example, Wheaton has followed what would be considered "smart-growth" principles in its efforts to bring higher-density housing to its downtown area, which puts potential customers within walking distance of businesses and commuter rail.

On the other hand, city officials also are considering plans for a 123,000-square-foot Home Depot store that would boost sales-tax revenues but add more traffic to the busy intersection of Roosevelt and County Farm Roads.

Suburban officials and developers have been suspicious of "smart growth" because they see talk of using existing infrastructure or promoting infill development as favoring Chicago at the expense of suburbia.

"Who am I to deprive a young couple, with two small kids, from searching out a lifestyle they think is best for them?" said Allan J. Hamilton, a commercial real estate developer, senior partner at Hamilton Partners and one of the panel members at Tuesday's forum.

Last June, the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference adopted a dozen guidelines in response to regional planning initiatives such as the Campaign for Sensible Growth or the earlier "Chicago Metropolis 2020" report from the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

The guidelines point out that the mayors and managers conference has a history of encouraging regional cooperation. But there also are concerns that such initiatives could create more problems than they might solve.

The conference guidelines suggest it may be cheaper sometimes to build new roads and make other infrastructure improvements in developing areas than to repair the aging infrastructure of older cities.

"Characterizing all suburban development as unplanned, uncoordinated sprawl overlooks the reality that suburban communities employ a high degree of planning and regulation to manage development," the guidelines say.

"Suburban development patterns are different from urban patterns, but that does not make suburban development inferior."

Some DuPage communities, however, have signed onto the Campaign for Sensible Growth.

For example, officials in Bartlett have taken the campaign goals as a blessing of their efforts to redevelop the village's downtown.

"We feel the community should develop with a center and go out from there," said James Plonczynski, the town's director of community development.

Plonczynski also said that infill development is not just an issue for Chicago or its inner-ring suburbs.

"A lot of communities are going through that--you don't see large expanses of open fields," he said. "You're now looking at filling in pockets, if you will, so you have a more cohesive community."